The revised Income Tax Return (ITR) forms for AY 2026–27 now include dedicated fields to report income from businesses covered under Sections 44B, 44BB, 44BBA, 44BBC, and 44BBD. Non-resident taxpayers opting for the presumptive taxation scheme are required to disclose both their total receipts or turnover and the corresponding net profit in these newly introduced columns.
It is important to note that Assessment Year (AY) 2026–27 is different from Tax Year 2026–27. For AY 2026–27, salaried individuals, pensioners, students, and those not subject to a tax audit are required to file their income tax returns by July 31, 2026. In contrast, for Tax Year 2026–27, the return filing deadline will be July 31, 2027.
What are sections 44B, 44BB, 44BBA, 44BBC, and 44BBD?
These five sections apply exclusively to non-residents earning from specific businesses in India. The common thread across all of them is presumptive taxation; instead of maintaining full books of accounts and calculating actual profits, the law fixes a percentage of gross receipts as taxable income. Compliance is simpler. The deemed income applies regardless of what the actual profit or loss was.
What is the new presumptive taxation scheme?
The Finance Act, 2025, has introduced Section 44BBD, which offers a presumptive taxation scheme for non-residents involved in providing services or technology for setting up electronics manufacturing facilities or producing electronic goods in India. Effective from Assessment Year 2026–27, the scheme treats 25 percent of the specified receipts as taxable income.
What are the changes in the ITR form?
Earlier, while Sections 44B, 44BB, 44BBA, and 44BBC governed presumptive taxation for non-residents, there was no requirement to separately disclose gross receipts or presumptive income in ITR filings.
Now, with changes in ITR-3, 5, and 6, taxpayers must specifically report gross receipts and deemed income under Schedule BP. Additionally, the newly introduced Section 44BBD applies to non-residents providing services or technology for electronics manufacturing in India, taxing 25 percent of gross receipts as income.
“NRIs covered under any of these sections must now disclose turnover and deemed income separately. Those providing electronics manufacturing services fall under mandatory 44BBD without any option to opt out,” an tax expert said.
The presumptive taxation benefit has not gone anywhere. “What has changed is visibility. The department can now cross-check what a non-resident declared as gross receipts against TDS records, payment data from Indian companies, and remittance trails,” he said.
Change in reporting of Foreign retirement accounts
Earlier, there was no restriction on the choice of ITR forms for individuals holding foreign retirement accounts, and while Section 89A provided tax deferral benefits, many returning professionals did not actively utilise it. That position has now changed. Taxpayers with such accounts can no longer file ITR-1 or ITR-4, and the specific field for claiming Section 89A relief has also been removed from these simpler forms.
As a result, individuals must file ITR-2 or ITR-3 “File Form 10-EE before the ITR deadline to defer annual tax on accruals in your US 401(k), Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP), or Registered Retirement Savings Plan (RRSP),” he said.
